I noticed a couple of days ago one of my Yellow Tail Acei's had a couple of white spots on its body. I of course was concerned right away, but wasn't convinced it was ich just yet. But there were other signs of it (multiple fish flashing (though some of this is normal) etc. Anyway today the 1 fish in question has more white spots, and also 1 of the spots looks like a tiny thread hanging from it's body, so... Here we go.

I have already started the process of slowly heating up the aquarium (125 gallon.) I would LOVE to be able to treat this with heat only, but I am wondering if my cichlids (various Mbunas) will be able to tolerate 84F-86F temperatures for about 2 weeks? I am running 2 Penn Plax canisters on this aquarium, a Cascade 1500 and a Cascade 1000. I also have 2 airstones right now, and will be adding 2 more. So there should be plenty of water movement (oxygen.)

I am thinking of using Ich-X from Hikari if I decide to use medication. Should I use this AND slowly heat the aquarium up to 84F or 86F, or just use the heat for 2 weeks and see how it goes?

Temperature over 80 can be quite stressful to the fish. Adding the stress of medication might overdo it. Most varieties of Ich can be stopped with temperatures over 86*F. This is much higher than many fish can handle. However, if you want to add salt to the tank, it can kill Ich at lower temperatures, and the African Rift Lake fish can usually handle a reasonable level of sodium chloride. It can actually reduce the effects of stress. Add salt this way:First day, add 1 teaspoon per 10 gallons. Dissolve the salt in water and pour it into the tank slowly over several hours. Second day, repeat. Third day, repeat. This will give the tank a total of 1 tablespoon per 10 gallons. This is a moderate dose for fish that are salt tolerant. When you are doing water changes add that dose to the new water.

Do not mix medicines (even salt and medications) unless the labels say they are compatible. For example, a medicine that is OK with salt will probably be labeled as appropriate for salt water or brackish water tanks as well as fresh water.

I just find the different opinions very interesting. And I do not necessarily think any idea/treatment is 100% a bad idea. People are going to do what has worked for them in the past. I think as along as you are doing something, that is good. And if one treatment doesn't work, of course move on to "Plan B," etc...

This is the first time in 5 years I've had to deal with it. Not very happy about this.

Heat: If your Ich is not the heat resistant type (there is such, discovered quite a few years ago). And your fish can handle the heat (not a good idea for cool water fish, but possible for tropical fish), and you can get the water deep under the substrate up to temperature (usually this is done by heating the tank water higher)... then you can treat Ich with heat.

Salt: Works great as long as the fish are tolerant to salt. In general, hard water fish are most tolerant to salt.

Vacuuming: Can help reduce the population, but is not a cure in itself. Helps also by improving the water quality.

Medications: There are some fish that are sensitive to some medications, but the dosing can be adjusted to help sensitive fish cope. Certain meds can kill other livestock (shrimp, snails...). Done right, however, medications can kill Ich just fine.

Treat the whole tank... not a Q-tank- Yes, it is true that every exposed fish should be treated. But the use of a Q-tank can be beneficial. If you have several fish that are sensitive to some meds these fish could be moved to a different tank and treated in a different manner than the main tank.

Here is another cure from many, many years ago:Move the fish every day into a new tank. Actually, it just means keeping 2 tanks, and moving the fish daily between one and the other. All new water. Drain the used water out all the way and leave the tank dry until it is time to refill and move the fish. This works because all the Ich that breeds, all the baby Ich organisms, are removed before they can infest the fish. A variation on this is to keep the fish in a bare bottom tank and thoroughly vacuum daily.

These are African Cichlids (various mbunas) so they should be able to handle the heat ok. I am actually on day 3 of using this treatment, and they are all super active at 88F at the moment. I will be 30%-50% water changes every day, or at least every other day for this 2 week period.

Heat treatment seems to be working. The Ich does not appear to be spreading, and the fish that had all kinds of white spots 4 days now only has a couple.

Now I know that this does not mean it's definitely the end of it by any stretch. I will continue to keep the heat where it's at for about another 10 days or so, even if ALL of the spots disappear tomorrow.

The cichlids appear to be handling the heat pretty well actually. A few of them are even doing their mating "ritual."